What comes after phonological awareness? using lexical experts to investigate orthographic processes in reading

Abstract

This research was designed to provide insight into the contribution of orthographic processes to skilled reading and spelling. Instead of defining orthographic knowledge in the manner dictated by dual-route frameworks, the research attempted to assess the quality and precision of skilled readers' lexical representational system. Measures of repetition and neighbour priming were derived from masked priming paradigms and used to predict reading comprehension and a number of measures of spelling performance in a sample of 62 skilled readers. Reading comprehension was predicted primarily by a measure of memory processing span. The best unique predictors of spelling were average lexical classification time, and measures of repetition priming. Skilled spellers showed enhanced repetition priming, particularly for nonword stimuli. The results are compatible with the restricted interactive model of reading skill, which assumes that skilled reading and spelling relies on a functionally autonomous lexical system defined by precise lexical representations that can be retrieved with minimal contextual support.